Jealousy
by The Cat's Paw
Summary: Just a small drabble about consequences of assumptions. Jealousy can be an ugly thing, making you blind to what's really going on. T for mild violence.


**Not a clue what I was thinking when I wrote this, mostly because I forgot that I did, and only just found it in my stuff. But it's complete, so I might as well post it.**

 **Disclaimer that I don't own Skyrim, but Linna is mine, though.**

 _ **Jealousy**_

She moved over to him, hips swaying seductively. "Hello there, handsome," she purred, and he grunted in acknowledgement.

Linna pouted prettily at his seeming lack of interest in her… ahem… assets, and leaned towards him. Her cleavage was on full display, without anything actually spilling out. She batted her lashes slightly and purred, "Is there anything I can do for you, handsome? _Anything_ at all?"

"Begone, wench," he dismissed her, and she humphed prettily before flouncing off.

 _What a waste_ , she thought, especially when she realised suddenly that he was staring at _HER_.

Just a few days ago, some woman had turned up, battered and bruised, possibly in some kind of fight. Hulda had immediately seen to her, getting Saadia to show her to the larger room upstairs, which had a bath in it. Then Hulda had made _her_ get hot water for this woman and take it up to her for washing.

When Linna had gone up there, the woman was disrobing, casting aside dirty clothes. Linna had been quite impressed with the woman's body, so much so that she'd felt a little turned on herself. But she'd pushed it aside, she wasn't interested in female company. Not even that time she'd seen Aela disrobed, the Huntress was quite impressive herself.

Since then, the woman, whom she learned was called Syn, had been given over to that top room, which was the best room at the inn. Linna preferred to use it for her encounters, but with her there, that was out of the question. So instead, she'd been using the one that was actually below that room, which she didn't like because Mikael liked to take the opportunity to perve on her in there.

Normally she wouldn't mind, but when she was with a customer, it was a different matter entirely. Hulda had already had more than a few words with him about it, but it seemed he couldn't help himself…

In any case, most men who'd been by lately had come just to stare at Syn, and it was irritating the hell out of Linna.

And now, Farkas, who was usually one of Linna's better customers, was overlooking her in favour of this new woman. In fact… Linna gasped! He was going over to her! She watched, angry, as Syn nodded at something Farkas said and went upstairs with him. She looked over at Hulda, to see what she would do about this, but the proprietor did nothing.

This was _her_ turf, dammit! Linna huffed and glared up at the top floor. She heard the sounds of voice, but no moans. That didn't matter, though. There was surely only one thing that they were doing. Linna left the inn in a huff, and headed down to Belethor's. Once there, she bought a dagger from the lecherous older Breton, then headed back to the inn, dagger hidden. She was going to end this threat to her once and for all.

Linna ran into Farkas leaving as she returned. She hadn't been gone that long, was it really already over? Maybe Syn wasn't that great in bed after all. Linna gloated at the thought. Still, Linna's shift would be officially staring soon, and she quickly hid the dagger before Hulda could question her.

The night passed much the same that the others had, with men leering over Syn and basically ignoring Linna. Even Belethor, who'd been coping a feel earlier on Linna's bum, was all agog over Syn. Linna fumed as she watched her all night. Only two men were interested in Linna, but she didn't notice, so caught up was she in her jealousy.

Much later, once people had wandered off to their beds in their own homes, Linna slipped upstairs, the dagger clutched tightly in her fist. When she carefully opened the door, she saw the lump on the bed that was Syn's sleeping form, and crept forward. Double checking that she was really there, Linna lifted the dagger over her head and brought it down. Syn cried out as she woke suddenly, and before she knew it, Linna was on the ground.

"What the heck is your problem?" Syn demanded as she pulled the dagger out of her arm.

Linna cursed as she realised that she'd missed. "You're my problem!" she hissed as she stood. "Ever since you came here, you've been stealing my clients, well, I won't stand for it any longer!"

Linna threw herself at the other woman, startling her and using that to her advantage to grab her dagger back. Syn cried out again as the blade was ripped from her, and as Linna lunged forward, she heard footsteps storm up the stairs. Hulda and Saadia burst through into the room, followed closely by Mikael.

"By the Divines, what is happening here?" Hulda demanded, but Linna ignored her as she hurled herself at Syn, dagger flashing.

Suddenly, there was a pain in her chest, and Linna looked down to see another dagger protruding from it. She looked up in shock at Syn, before collapsing to her knees. She'd lost… How could Dibella let this usurper best her? Hulda came running forward, bypassing Linna and going straight to Syn. A tear pricked her eye.

"Are you alright, Syn?" Hulda asked. "I'm truly sorry, I've no idea why she would attack a guest."

"She said something about her clients..." Syn said. "She thinks I'm a harlot, like her."

Hulda looked over to Linna, giving her a pitying stare. "Linna, love," she said. "Syn isn't a whore, I wasn't replacing you or anything. Syn's the dragonborn, the Harbinger of the Companions."

Tears flowed from Linna's eyes. "No," she whispered. "How could…?"

She coughed blood and fell forward. "Saadia, go and get Danica!" Hulda ordered, and Saadia rushed off, but Linna knew it was too late.

She'd made a mistake. A stupid, stupid mistake, and now she was going to Oblivion. There was no way that she's go anywhere else, she'd tried to kill the dragonborn, after all. She half laughed, then winced from the pain. Well, her ma did always say she had more looks than sense. As the darkness overcame her, Linna wished she could change it all. Then she wished no more as darkness claimed her and she was gone.

 **So what did you think? Review please!**


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